Dan Aykroyd Says ‘Ghostbusters’ Should Have Been More ‘Inclusive to the Originators’

Dan Aykroyd has clarified his comments about last year’s Ghostbusters, while Sony responded to his initial statements, made on a British TV show, criticizing director Paul Feig, particularly about the reshoots Aykroyd claimed killed any possibility of further Ghostbusters sequels.

To recap, if you missed how all this started: While appearing on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, Aykroyd claimed Feig ignored advice about things he would need to shoot for his reboot of Ghostbusters starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. That decision, Aykroyd said, resulted in “about $30 to $40 million in reshoots,” which ballooned the film’s budget, “making it economically not feasible to do another one.”

But Deadline got a statement from Sony, saying Aykroyd had the numbers wrong:

Sony Pictures has refuted Dan Aykroyd’s version of events, saying that the reshoots he referred to actually cost between $3 million and $4 million, and not the $30 million to $40 million Aykroyd described on Britain’s Channel 4 earlier today.

Aykroyd also added a second comment about the issue to his Facebook page:

Aykroyd continues to insist he likes Feig’s movie; he just doesn’t like how much money he spent to make it. (And he’s probably not a fan of the fact that there apparently won’t be more Ghostbusters movies, at least for a while, which means there will be less Ghostbusters checks for Aykroyd, at least for a while.) It’s interesting to hear in this version of the story that Feig, at least in Aykroyd’s mind, didn’t “include” more input from Ghostbusters stalwarts like him and original director Ivan Reitman.

My biggest gripe with Feig’s movie was it felt too indebted to the old film. When the new cast were allowed to do their own thing, and the movie stopped constantly referring to the 1984 movie, it found its rhythm. Then again, maybe if it was up to Aykroyd, those references would have been toned down. Regardless, it’s clear this was not an entirely happy creative marriage, and if there is a future for Ghostbusters in Hollywood, I would not expect to see Paul Feig in it.